Letters to the editor -- Published Sept. 28, 2012

A Sept. 19 letter from a south Valley farmer said that the film "Over Troubled Waters" makes an erroneous claim. However, the writer misstates the claim made in the movie.

A Sept. 19 letter from a south Valley farmer said that the film "Over Troubled Waters" makes an erroneous claim. However, the writer misstates the claim made in the movie.

We carefully document in "Over Troubled Waters" that two-thirds of the water exported from the Delta is used for agriculture - mostly by growers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and in Kern County. Our data come from the Department of Water Resources and Bureau of Reclamation.

We then looked at the business practices of the two largest agricultural water districts that receive this Delta water, the Westlands Water District and the Kern County Water Agency.

And we posed the questions: Does it makes sense to export water to Westlands growers, who primarily grow crops for export on drainage-impaired lands made up of poor soils, or to protect water supplies for Delta farms, the largest strip of prime farmland in California farmed by some of California's oldest farming families? Are we to sacrifice this marvelous estuary to support Westlands, which contributes less than 0.4 percent to the state's annual economy? Are we to sacrifice our $5 billion a year middle-class agricultural economy in the Delta to support a small number of large corporate agribusiness growers in Westlands?

The proposed project the letter writer is willing to pay for simply will destroy the Delta, and with a $51 billion price tag that will be paid for by urban water users and taxpayers, it will further destroy the state's chances for a full economic recovery.

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla

Restore the Delta

Stockton

I thought that I had seen everything from members of the Republican-Teabag party. But what happened Sept. 19 is beyond my understanding.

GOP senators voted "no" on a measure that would have created jobs for 20,000 returning veterans. The vote was 58 to 40. The vote should have been 100 to 0 in favor of the bill.

But since President Barack Obama came into office, the Republican Senate leadership requires 60 votes for every measure. This is because the Republican Party's first priority is to block any bill that would make the president appear to have accomplished anything.

In addition, among the contingent of Republican senators who voted "no" were the very same senators who helped write the bill in the first place. The bill was designed to help returning veterans transition into civilian life and take care of their families.

This jobs bill was bipartisan, fully paid for, and had been expected to pass.

The bill will not be brought up again for at least another year, and returning veterans will probably continue to have an unemployment rate several times higher than the national average.

I wonder if the Republican presidential nominee believes that unemployed returning veterans are part of the 47 percent of the population he considers to be victims and moochers.

There are several words that can be used to describe what the Republican Party has become, and two of these words are "despicable" and "pathetic."

Joel A. Wagner

Stockton

Record reporter Scott Smith is insightful in his coverage of the Stockton City Hall issues, and clearly researches and then deciphers the complexity of the many issues. Thank you for your fair and thorough journalism under tough circumstances.

Jo Duthie

West Sacramento

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